I'm a big Jackie Chan fan. There was a time that I would do my best to track down all his obscure movies I had not seen. I went to see Jackie in Rumble in the Bronx in the theaters before it was cool to see Jackie in the theaters. I've really liked Jet Li but not as much as Jackie. I've really liked his fight scenes as they usually go for a more realistic look to them while Jackie goes for laughs. So the two of them in a movie together has got to be excellent, right? Right?

Not quite.

The Forbidden Kingdom starts out with a kung-fu obsessed loser named Jason. He goes to the local old man's Chinese shop to hunt for the latest kung-fu flick. Some toughs force him to help them rob the old man of his junk. For some silly reason one of the toughs shoots the old man. The old man gives Jason a staff and tells him to return it to the rightful owner. Jason runs away and the toughs chase after him to prevent him from going to the cops. You know by the end of the movie Jason will beat the crap out of those guys.

The staff then drags him off the top of a building.

Jason wakes up in China about a thousand years ago. He soon encounters Jackie who fights in the comical drunken style which fits Jackie perfectly. Jackie notices the staff and tells him the story of the Monkey King which is played by Jet Li. This is funny since it is about the silliest role I've ever seen him in. The story goes that the Monkey King was tricked into a fight by a warlord who encased him in stone. The return of the Monkey King's staff will free him. This, of course, is the staff that Jason now possesses.

Jackie agrees to take Jason to where the Monkey King is supposed to be to return the staff. On their way they run into the Golden Sparrow who is an attractive young lady that we all know will eventually be the love interest. Her story is that the warlord is responsible for her parent's death so of course she wants revenge. She has a jade dart that is supposed to be able to kill an immortal which the warlord happens to be.

So they travel along until someone steals the staff. The thief turns out to be a monk, played by Jet Li, whose life mission is to return the Monkey King's staff. Now we get the long awaited fight scene between Jackie Chan and Jet Li.

This was a fight scene that was both exciting and dull at the same time. The parts that was not wire work were exciting and the parts that was wire work were rather dull. Mainly because I've grown tired of seeing wire work in fight scenes. I was never thrilled with it and it still does nothing for me.

So now we are treated with a series of montages involving either them traveling or training Jason in kung-fu.

They eventually get to the warlord's castle and the big fight begins. Jet Li fights the warlord because Jackie is hurt and needs the immortal's potion to survive. Jason is there to get the potion. The cute asian girl fights the other cute asian girl. The evil cute asian girl wants the potion while the good cute asian girl wants to kill the warlord. Jason kills the warlord with the jade dart because the good cute asian girl is now dying. Evil cute asian girl was tossed off a balcony. Jason tells good cute asian girl warlord is dead and she dies just after thanking him. The staff is returned to the Monkey King who returns and Jackie gets the potion so he survives. All is well in China again and Jason gets to go home.

As soon as he is home he beats the crap out of the toughs.

The old man turns out to be ok and Jason meets his world's cute asian girl.

Not a really exciting movie and rather predictable. But if you like Jackie Chan and/or Jet Li then you might like the fight scenes. Don't see it for the story or character development.